Roasted Whole Chicken on the BBQ

Most people will agree that preparing food for the week (or at least a few days) makes it much easier to stick to your healthier eating goals. What ends up burning people out is “eating the same thing all the time.”
So then why make your food so boring? If we just took a different approach to food preparation and cooked something beautiful and full of flavor, your left-overs will become much more appetizing. One of the foods I prepared “in bulk” this week was chicken (whole). Let me show you what the end result was first, so maybe you will actually continue to read and maybe even try this out:

I know… Looks good, right? It was. I cook chicken like this often, andI always season it a little different. Nothing is measured. No specific recipe. Just a technique that cooks chicken perfectly, and throw in a few flavors you like. First you must prepare the chicken…

There are three places to season the chicken: on top of the skin, underneath the skin, and inside the chicken cavity. This time I finely minced about 1/2 yellow onion, 2 cloves garlic, added a sprinkle of black and white pepper, sea salt, dehydrated ginger, oregano. Mixed it all up and stuffed it underneath the skin on the breast, as well as the skin surrounding the thigh and legs.
I the coarsely chopped up one onion and one apple, drizzled a small amount of oil on them, then generously sprinkled an Indian Curry powder on them. I quickly tossed that and stuff the curried apples and onions inside the chicken. To keep everything from falling out the bottom, use a 1/2 kabob spear or toothpicks to pin the flap of skin across the bottom of the chicken. I then stuffed a half lemon between the breast bone and the vertebrae to close up the top. The chicken is now ready for the grill. Lets get that set up.

While I was preparing the chicken I had some Hickory Wood chips soaking in water. While the charcoals are heating up I drain the wood chips and wrap them in foil. Poke some holes in (the top of) the foil packet. This will allow the smoke to escape when the wood chips get hot.
When the charcoals are ready, separate them into two piles on opposite ends of the grill. Place the foil packets on top of the coals now, and spread a piece of foil across the center of the bottom grate to catch all the drippings. This will make cleaning up a lot easier. All there is to do now is place the chickens breast-side up on the top grate, in-between the to coal piles for indirect heat. Close the lid and let it smoke! (Make sure the bottom vents and the lid vents are open. You want the temperature to sit between 350-375, but not over 400. If the temperature goes up too high, adjust the vents to cut off a little oxygen. This takes some practice. If you have a gas grill, turn on one burner and place the chicken on another burner for indirect heat. Foil packets work great on gas grills too.

So lets not forget about the skin… After about 20 minutes I mix a few tbsp raw honey with the Curry powder, and adjust amounts to taste. Quickly open the lid, baste the chickens generously, then close it back up until they are done cooking. You can use a meat thermometer to check for done-ness, or…

Just try ripping a leg off. If it pulls off relatively easy, that chicken is done! As a general rule I always “tent” anything I grill with foil for 10-15 minutes after cooking. Time to dig in! If this is purely for food prep, as was the case for me, I just let it cool for an hour, then cut or rip all of the meat off the bone and store it all in the fridge for later. This goes great with salads, tacos, or anything else you can use shredded or cubed chicken for! Enjoy!